Digital CPG Blog

General Mills is updating the marketing concept of surprises in the cereal box.

“You point to a logo [on food packaging], and things start to appear,” said Chief Marketing Officer Mark Addicks. “Maybe some functional content will pop up on a cake-mix box, or you might see entertainment and games coming from a cereal box. What I’m hoping for is pure entertainment.”

Addicks hopes to update the marketing concept of offering a surprise inside the cereal box. Instead, kids could point a smartphone at the box and “see visual surprises.”

He’s looking at QR (quick response) codes to do this — those little square boxes that appear now in so many ads and, when scanned with a smartphone’s camera, take consumers directly to a website. But he’s also looking beyond the code to apps. He’s already got apps for Betty Crocker and Yoplait Yogurt and is exploring apps for cereal brands. “You point to a logo and things start to appear,” he says. “Maybe some functional content will pop up on a cake-mix box, or you might see entertainment and games coming from a cereal box. What I’m hoping for is pure entertainment.”

(via)